Who is Toledo’s most hated sports figure?

When former Cleveland Cavaliers cornerstone player LeBron James hoisted himself on a pedestal of his own hubris and announced he would graciously play for the Miami Heat — leaving behind a trail of sadness and burned jerseys — the state of Ohio, you could say, hated him.

Sports hate, when practiced perfectly, is a myopic dislike of a sports figure, but not the person. We don’t know these people; we just observe their handiwork on TV or in large stadiums.

I hate the Minnesota Twins. Why? Because somehow, some way, they always ruin the Detroit Tigers’ season. Personally, I don’t hate the Twins baseball players. They did nothing to me. I’m walking along the Maumee River, and suddenly I spot Twins MVP catcher Joe Mauer drowning, I probably try to save his life. Then when he’s on dry land, I tell him, “Now do me a favor: Demand a trade out of the division.”

Recently, the state of Michigan was rightfully vexed over the decision by ABC/ESPN to have former Detroit Lions president Matt Millen serve as the color commentator for the TV broadcast of the UM-MSU game. On the surface, I didn’t see a problem with this. Of all his talents, talking about football is actually one of them. But this was unacceptable for several devoted Lions souls. How could he thoughtfully analyze this anticipated rivalry game when he thought Marty Mornhinweg could lead the Lions to the Super Bowl?

As I was thinking about this, it hit me. Championships and great moments can unite sports fans of a city, but perhaps even more municipally binding is the hatred of a sports figure. All of Detroit stands in solidarity against Matt Millen. They may not agree on much, but at least they know a bad football president when they see one. And much like Millen, Cleveland has joined together in their hatred for LeBron.

Which brings us to Northwest Ohio. Who do we hate? The occasional athlete or broadcaster might take the occasional catty swipe at our region, but there isn’t that one pervasive figure who all Toledoans can point to and say, yeah, he’s our enemy.

Perhaps the figures involved in the UT point-shaving scandal are hated. Certainly the gamblers who allegedly masterminded the scheme are personae non grata in Toledo, but they’re mere criminals. As for the former athletes awaiting trial, are they really hated? Or did they just make young and dumb decisions?

What about former Toledo basketball coach Gene Cross? He woefully derailed the rebuilding of Rockets basketball, but his tenure was so brief and without comical folly that few of us had much of a chance to feel any emotion for the man. (Imagine Matt Millen lasting only two years for the Lions. He’d be but another notch on the franchise’s futility belt.)

Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz is a possibility. You might remember his line on ESPN a few years ago, regarding interstate football rivalries: “Only twice have states gone to war with one another. One of them was Ohio and Michigan, where they had a boundary dispute over Toledo. That history doesn’t record who won the war, but we have to assume Michigan did, because nobody would fight to keep Toledo.” This is a great candidate because Holtz is a northeast Ohio native

Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel are former Toledo coaches who spurned their home to take better jobs, but there hasn’t been much animosity toward Pinkel. Saban, however … there are plenty of other reasons to root against Saban and his current Alabama team. BGSU fans, however, might have their own reasons to pull against former coach Urban Meyer. Even though he revived that program in 2001, he left town for another job soon thereafter, mere weeks after telling the local media that he had unfinished business at BG.

I’m really struggling to find viable candidates for Toledo’s Most Hated Sports Figure. Send yours to letters@toledofreepress.com and make your case. We’ll figure this out together.

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It didn’t leave everyone happy, but at least Ohio State and Michigan would be guaranteed to play each other every year at the end of the season. But the dismay! There’s a chance that they might play … again! In the championship!

“Ohio State-Michigan is an event of inordinate importance and unparalleled prestige,” wrote the Plain Dealer’s Bill Livingston. “It is not a series.”

“Careers, both playing and coaching, are defined by it because the lack of a rematch raises the stakes,” wrote Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, noting that the Big Ten is “selling out a century plus for an overnight rating.”

With a potential rematch, The Game is watered down. Its soul was sold to the devil. Tradition has been slapped in the face. Worst of all, with OSU and UM in separate divisions, some of our fans and writers have run afoul with alarmist hyperbole.

Many great college football rivalries, yes, are in the same division. In fact, most are. There is one, however, which recently split into separate divisions. And they aren’t very many miles apart.

Toledo and Bowling Green.

As you remember, Marshall and Central Florida bolted for Conference USA in 2005, leaving an imbalance in the two Mid-American Conference divisions. Resultantly, Bowling Green slid over from the West to the East, separating the Falcons and Rockets by a man-made alignment.

Since then, the rivalry has died down. Nobody cares about it anymore, really. In fact, when the two teams play, the players are so apathetic that they’ll basically play in their pajamas and sleepwalk through the plays. Occasionally you can see players take a break from the football game and begin little sewing circles or games of euchre. I’ve seen UT and BG players even be on the same euchre team!

This year the MAC moved the annual BG-UT game up a week to the second-to-last game. But we already don’t care about the game, so this isn’t a big deal. Who’s up for euchre?

See what separate divisions have done? For those who care dearly about the Ohio State-Michigan game, I’m sorry to say there’s no more rivalry. It’s over. The spirit of the game has been sold out so that tickets and advertising space could sell out. I saw Jim Tressel and Rich Rodriguez friend each other on Facebook. What would Woody and Bo say about Facebook? They’d probably hurl at the thought of technology!

Matt Sussman blogs about the Mid-American Conference at hustlebelt.com.

This entry was posted
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Futon Report

Futon Report: Buckeyes swap BGSU for Colorado

Ohio State football announced recently that it will play the University of Colorado in Columbus during the 2011 season. It seems a little late for OSU to finalize next year’s schedule, doesn’t it? Usually its nonconference meetings are scheduled a few years in advance, like a posh restaurant.

In five-star eating establishments, the patrons are waited on, pampered and given an expensive bill. Coming to Ohio State on a Saturday afternoon, however, is quite the opposite. The visiting team is given a large wad of money and all it has to do is get brutalized for four quarters. This is where UT and BGSU come in.

Last year, both the Rockets and Falcons were on the 2011 schedule. But almost without a whisper, BGSU released its list of future football opponents with a nondescript update on its website: “Ohio State has been removed from the 2011 schedule and replaced with West Virginia. A potential date is still being determined to play Ohio State (likely in 2014, 2016 or 2017).”

The moderator of the blog/message board AY-ZIGGY-ZOOMBA.com reached out to the BGSU athletic department but no one would comment on the reasons for the schedule switch. It was pointed out, however, that the payout for both games was the same (although not nearly as much as the $1.4 million Colorado’s getting for coming to Columbus as the sacrificial steak). And hey, maybe they can find cheaper hotels in Morgantown, too!

So that’s cool. The Falcons still get a marquee opponent next year. But West Virginia is not OSU. Toledoans don’t fawn over WV athletics. There are no “Buckeye & Wolverine & Mountaineer Shop” locations around here. So it’s a little disappointing, even if you ignore the silent announcement of this schedule change.

Because what’s the added advantage for OSU to play Colorado instead of BGSU? The Buffaloes may have a larger fanbase, but it’s way the heck out there in the mountains. Do they travel well? More to the point, will they travel better than the couple-of-hours trip down U.S. 23 that the Falcons faithful would drive? Is CU even that much of a better opponent?

CU coach Dan Hawkins, perhaps in a career decision on par with Shelley Long leaving “Cheers,” left Boise State to coach the Buffs in 2004. That was the year before the Broncos’ memorable Fiesta Bowl win against Oklahoma. As a coach in Colorado, Hawkins has a win-loss record of 16-33, or two more wins than Boise State had last year. What I’m trying to say is that the team is bad.

So other than being a Pac-10 opponent, what’s the allure? Why break one commitment with a geographically-sensible opponent to instead play, at best, someone marginally better?

In 2003, BGSU almost became the first school in Ohio since the Harding Administration to beat the Buckeyes in football. A score of 24-17 in favor of OSU was finalized on the Falcons’ last drive. In ’06, the score was slightly more comfortable for the scarlet and gray: 35-7. Such is the norm for the Buckeyes; it’s almost not September without a beatdown of someone within the state border. In fact, last year, the Rockets lost to OSU “at home” (Cleveland Browns Stadium) 38-0, and some thought beforehand they just might be able to pull off the upset. After all, a week before that they laid 53 points on … guess who? Colorado.

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